Upcharge in MDR

Have just been reading some reviews of the Millennium in Asia:

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=553104

"The daily menu contains three items that one can pay extra for (lobster, fish, steak). Fish and steak are also offered at no extra charge but the extra is required if you want something that is of tolerable quality. That there is extra charge for better food pretty much says it all: that the regularly offered food is not good. Fish smells and tastes fishy; meats are fat or tough; usually no side orders of fresh vegetables offered, or when offered, in tiny amounts. The dining experience is focused on upselling you to the items that cost extra (but who would trust them when the other food is so bad?) One evening the waiter even said to us that he would not recommend we order either the chicken or beef as it was “of such low quality”. The only option left was fish. My wife ordered salmon. It was undercooked and had the fishy smell and after-taste of all the fish they serve. It was inedible. We often ended up just stuffing ourselves with bread in order not to leave hungry."

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=552662

"Food was the big disappointment on the ship. Celebrity usually is known for their food quality so what was offered on this sailing was especially disappointing. Many of the options were unappetizing (meat tough, fish very fishy) and not as described i.e. no kale in the kale salad, cranberries rather than strawberries in the strawberry salad, roasted vegetables were mash potatoes and uneatable green peas! Our wait staff offered alternatives but most choices were poor. I requested steamed vegetables every night to supplement my dinner. Our waiter had the chef visit our table twice during the sailing so we could speak to him directly about the lack of quality."

1. Is the account of upcharge items in the MDR correct? I don't remember this being the case on the Eclipse in July 2015.

2. Has the quality of food in the MDR really declined so much recently? Was this perhaps a supplier issue which affected a few Asian cruises?

Have just been reading some reviews of the Millennium in Asia:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=553104

 

"The daily menu contains three items that one can pay extra for (lobster, fish, steak). Fish and steak are also offered at no extra charge but the extra is required if you want something that is of tolerable quality. That there is extra charge for better food pretty much says it all: that the regularly offered food is not good. Fish smells and tastes fishy; meats are fat or tough; usually no side orders of fresh vegetables offered, or when offered, in tiny amounts. The dining experience is focused on upselling you to the items that cost extra (but who would trust them when the other food is so bad?) One evening the waiter even said to us that he would not recommend we order either the chicken or beef as it was “of such low quality”. The only option left was fish. My wife ordered salmon. It was undercooked and had the fishy smell and after-taste of all the fish they serve. It was inedible. We often ended up just stuffing ourselves with bread in order not to leave hungry."

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=552662

 

"Food was the big disappointment on the ship. Celebrity usually is known for their food quality so what was offered on this sailing was especially disappointing. Many of the options were unappetizing (meat tough, fish very fishy) and not as described i.e. no kale in the kale salad, cranberries rather than strawberries in the strawberry salad, roasted vegetables were mash potatoes and uneatable green peas! Our wait staff offered alternatives but most choices were poor. I requested steamed vegetables every night to supplement my dinner. Our waiter had the chef visit our table twice during the sailing so we could speak to him directly about the lack of quality."

 

1. Is the account of upcharge items in the MDR correct? I don't remember this being the case on the Eclipse in July 2015.

 

2. Has the quality of food in the MDR really declined so much recently? Was this perhaps a supplier issue which affected a few Asian cruises?

On Silhouette right now and there is no upcharge in the main dining room. We have had excellent meals there-have had the beef option at least half of the nights and the quality has been very good/excellent. DH has had the fish many times and was very pleased.

Have done three Celebrity cruises this year and have just got off the Solstice. Never seen or heard of an upcharge. No complaints about meals in the MDR either

We were just b2b on Infinity and the mdr food was just awful. We ordered the everyday steak or salmon most nights. It was average at best. There were many upcharge items we did not try. We did order a filet from the kids menu and it was excellent

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We were just b2b on Infinity and the mdr food was just awful. We ordered the everyday steak or salmon most nights. It was average at best. There were many upcharge items we did not try. We did order a filet from the kids menu and it was excellent

 

 

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Did you happen to take a picture of the upcharge section? I have never heard of upcharges in the MDR.

I don't remember exactly, there was a steak and there was lobster not sure what else but the price was high enough we said if we were willing to pay that we would just go to a speciality restaurant for better service and all around food

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Have just been reading some reviews of the Millennium in Asia:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=553104

 

"The daily menu contains three items that one can pay extra for (lobster, fish, steak). Fish and steak are also offered at no extra charge but the extra is required if you want something that is of tolerable quality. That there is extra charge for better food pretty much says it all: that the regularly offered food is not good. Fish smells and tastes fishy; meats are fat or tough; usually no side orders of fresh vegetables offered, or when offered, in tiny amounts. The dining experience is focused on upselling you to the items that cost extra (but who would trust them when the other food is so bad?) One evening the waiter even said to us that he would not recommend we order either the chicken or beef as it was “of such low quality”. The only option left was fish. My wife ordered salmon. It was undercooked and had the fishy smell and after-taste of all the fish they serve. It was inedible. We often ended up just stuffing ourselves with bread in order not to leave hungry."

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=552662

 

"Food was the big disappointment on the ship. Celebrity usually is known for their food quality so what was offered on this sailing was especially disappointing. Many of the options were unappetizing (meat tough, fish very fishy) and not as described i.e. no kale in the kale salad, cranberries rather than strawberries in the strawberry salad, roasted vegetables were mash potatoes and uneatable green peas! Our wait staff offered alternatives but most choices were poor. I requested steamed vegetables every night to supplement my dinner. Our waiter had the chef visit our table twice during the sailing so we could speak to him directly about the lack of quality."

 

1. Is the account of upcharge items in the MDR correct? I don't remember this being the case on the Eclipse in July 2015.

 

2. Has the quality of food in the MDR really declined so much recently? Was this perhaps a supplier issue which affected a few Asian cruises?

Did a b2b on Millennium in August, on Silhouette now. Have no idea where you are finding the "up charge" option - I have never seen it.Food has ranged from good to excellent. Even the beef which was a surprise.

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We also enjoy the meals in the MDR. It does seem when we did the Eclipse to the Caribbean this April in the lower left hand side of the menu there was a steak listed for a charge. Or maybe I'm getting that confused with this Septembers Cruise on Royals Explorer.

We were just on the Infinity in September. There was an upcharge for a couple of items. I didn't take note of the prices or items.

We thought the regular food was amazing. We enjoyed our dinners in the MDR every night. I guess it depends who's cooking the food?? From ship to ship, I mean.

Never heard of an upcharge in MDR on Celebrity.

Never heard of an upcharge in MDR on Celebrity.

Just for the breakfast room service menu.

Did you happen to take a picture of the upcharge section? I have never heard of upcharges in the MDR.

I would say pics or it didn't happen

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The other poster is correct it is on the bottom left under the everyday items. I would like to hear from

someone that tried one of them

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Thought upcharges in MDR was a Royal C concept. They did have upcharge items in Tuscan on Infinity last month...we did not order them and very much enjoyed our meals there...great menu, well executed and excellent service, Did not see upcharges in Q sine..also enjoyable.

OFF TOPIC: we are long time BLU fans but were not that happy with BLU, on Infinity. Service was not great, kitchen slow, staff slow,& were poorly supervised as the supervisors were taking orders, bussing tables and serving..,rather than supervising...

Menus were mostly the ones with squab, pheasant,(tasted dried out & leathery).etc,

On lobster night no one offered to take it out of the shell for a very long time,,,Overall poor when contrasted to BLU on our last 2 cruises on Equinox and Connie.We ate away from BLU at least 4 nights out of 9 this time around,

After checking in the am we saw that the final night's menu in BLU was again not very inspired We were able to get a res at 5:45 in MDR for the last night of our cruise...had a very nice table location, great service all around (no longer felt ignored...) and my veal in phyllo dough was one of the best meals of the cruise.....along with Q sine and Tuscan.

Just got off the Reflection Transatlantic 2 weeks ago. MDR food was very good. - breakfast lunch and dinner. No upcharges.

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We're on the Infinity now, there are a few upcharge items on the MDR menu. We haven't eaten in the MDR, so can't comment on the food quality, but I'll try to take a picture of the upcharge items tomorrow.

Maybe it's an experiment on random ships to see if anyone "bites" before they roll it out fleet-wide?

I personally think it is disgusting...they already charge for the specialty restaurants, in order to get something decent (arguably) in the MDR should not be an upcharge, it is one of the basic tenets of cruising.

We boarded the Solstice on September 19th and left on October 22nd. While we were in a suite for both legs of that B2B I frequently looked at the MDR menu (a daily updated copy was in Michael's Club) to check the salad and appetizers of the evening. My memory is comparable to that of "davekathy" and "AmberCascades." I think that there was a steak offering on the lower left side of the two page MDR menu which had an uncharge. My recollection is that when I first saw it I said something a little stronger than "Oh my gosh" silently to myself. But I didn't think to take a photo to document it. I will be looking forward to what others report.

We boarded the Solstice on September 19th and left on October 22nd. While we were in a suite for both legs of that B2B I frequently looked at the MDR menu (a daily updated copy was in Michael's Club) to check the salad and appetizers of the evening. My memory is comparable to that of "davekathy" and "AmberCascades." I think that there was a steak offering on the lower left side of the two page MDR menu which had an uncharge. My recollection is that when I first saw it I said something a little stronger than "Oh my gosh" silently to myself. But I didn't think to take a photo to document it. I will be looking forward to what others report.

The menu in the MDR is split into two halves, the layout sometimes differs but one half is the menu of day and this changes each day. The other half are the standard items which are available every day and included in the everyday menu is New York sirloin steak - no upcharge

We have participated in the up charge on Royal Caribbean for a steak.

We were eating in MDR and one table mate ordered the up charge steak. If I had to guess, it was at least $20. I got to sample a bite and he sampled my steak. Needless to say there was a huge difference. Mine was relatively thin and tougher. It did have a good favor to it as I recall. His steak was what you would think of when ordering a steak.

We did later in cruise eat at Chops and my steak there was similar to the up charge steak in size/thickness/quality/taste.

There has to be a difference, otherwise how can you try to justify the cost or up charge. What was once 'free' is now charged as I believe the steaks use to be of the caliber of the steaks now served in Chops on Royal at least. Some will argue that cruise base price is cheaper now and you can pay for a steak if that is what you want.

We were on the Eclipse in October there was no upcharges in the MDR.

We were on the Eclipse in October there was no upcharges in the MDR.

What I did notice in Tuscan was a move to some very cheap cuts (skirt steak) on the new menu and the option of an upcharge to get the better quality steak.

What I did notice in Tuscan was a move to some very cheap cuts (skirt steak) on the new menu and the option of an upcharge to get the better quality steak.

An up charge for an item on menu beyond the specialty restaurants base 'up' charge?

The recent excellent live review of the Reflection featured photos of menus. I did not notice any upcharge items on them. I would have to agree with the poster that suggested that it might be a trial on a few ships to see how well it goes. If so, I hope they put an end to it quickly!

An up charge for an item on menu beyond the specialty restaurants base 'up' charge?

Yes

It's detailed on the menu section on the Celebrity site, you pay extra now for USDA grade meat.